Black Mal
by TheMisterE
Summary: A short story about Tifa running 7th Heaven, set a short while after the events of Advent Children. In-progress.


7th Heaven, as it existed in Edge, was not particularly profitable. In fact, it really wasn't profitable at all, and had never _been_ particularly profitable either. It was well-known, of course; it had been one of the first bars to pop up in the very earliest days of the city, not long after Meteorfall, and the name struck a nostalgic chord with many of the Midgar survivors, particularly those who had been living under the Plate. The then-Sector 5 based watering hole had quite the reputation; it was right in the middle of one of the roughest parts of the city and was almost certainly involved in some very dangerous dealings, but the beers were cheap and varied, and the barmaid was very well known to be "a hell of a looker".

The pub fared well enough in Edge for a short time, riding off the nostalgia factor as long as it could, but it was never going to last. As Edge grew, the population and industry followed suit, paving the way for a fast-expanding crop of establishments; by the time of the Remnants Incident, 7th Heaven could no longer even call itself the only "Midgar original" in town, as a new branch of the notorious "Honey Bee Inn" had recently opened shop.

"Welcome to the new Wall Market, huh", Tifa mumbled to herself. She watched seemingly absent-mindedly from behind the bar, through the front window out onto the street. A couple of spritely young girls dressed in the Honey Bee's trademark escort costumes were handing flyers to passers-by. Attracting the attention of young men was their business, and business was good. Their sickening perky cuteness was one thing, but their body language was what really sold the deal; a mixture of fluffy innocence, the cocking of heads, the fluttering of lashes, the pouting of lips, underlaid with the more expertly provocative; small yet meaningful movements, the cocking of hips, the subliminal display of cleavage. Just enough to set the patron's imagination on fire.

Tifa threw the dishcloth she had been using to clean the same glass for the past 15 minutes into the sink under the bar, and stormed to the front door. The Bees had just worked their magic on a group of four young men, all with flyers in hand, bustling and chattering excitedly away to another part of town. They were regulars at 7th Heaven, and Tifa had seen quite enough of her patrons falling into the Honey trap. She hadn't heard much of the new Inn, other than it was seemingly just a novelty bar. She guessed it was likely something rather more akin to the old Inn, under the surface.

"Alright girls, move on, c'mon." Tifa strode purposefully to the two Bees, whispering excitedly to one another. The smaller of the two turned her head quickly, seemingly quite offended that their conversation had been interrupted.

"Uh, excuse me? We're, like, working? This is our area, we can't move from here for like another hour or whatever." The little Bee crossed her arms authoritatively. The taller of the two smiled warmly and nodded, apparently lacking the quick-witted sharpness her partner seemed to have.

Tifa sighed in a mixture of frustration and worry and rubbed her forehead. "Look, I know, okay, you're just doing what you're told. I just don't want this kinda... thing going on in this part of the city. We've just gotten rid of Geostigma, we could all do with less worr-"

"Uh, what _kinda thing_?" Little Bee cocked her head and eyed Tifa questioningly. Big Bee just looked slightly confused, and said only "um, I volunteered to do flyering, miss..."

Tifa thrust her hands onto her hips, her expression bearing an incredulous smile.

"Right, yeah, don't play dumb girls, you're not just selling drinks at that damn place. Get the hell out of here, and don't bother calling any of the 'protection' guys either. Trust me."

Little Bee didn't seem to like that, and her demeanour, already abrasive to some degree, shifted to outright dismissive, and more than a little venomous.

"Oh, _riiiight_ , you're one of those assholes who thinks we're that friggin' brothel in Midgar from like a million years ago or whatever. The boss used to work security at the place, but he's not a creep like that old asshole Corneo was. He uses the name to get attention, and all we have to do is serve overpriced drinks to losers in these stupid costumes and act cute." She pointed between herself and Big Bee, who didn't seem to be following and had turned her attention to tapping a message on the screen of her cellphone. She, at least, looked happy.

"I... I didn't..." Formulating a proper sentence in response to this was at least another 10 seconds away from Tifa. What a ridiculous mistake to make, a real country bumpkin error. _No-one shakes off the Nibel Stupid_ _completely_ , Tifa thought to herself idly, as the rest of her mind scrambled to find something to say.

Little Bee shook her head with a disingenuous grin writ across her. "Y'know what, I don't wanna hear it. I guess we can move to the other end of the street for the next hour if we're stealing all your precious business away. Thanks for assuming we're streetwalkers though, real nice of you. Buh-bye." With that, she twirled around and quickly walked towards the other end of the street, heels clicking on the concrete.

Tifa shouted after her. "Look, I'm sorry, I just..." Little Bee waved her hand, as if shoo-ing the words away, and Tifa's voice faltered with it. "... I was just concerned."

Tifa felt she couldn't win when it came to concern. Just now, she'd voiced it and got nothing from it other than looking like an idiot.

Once, she never voiced it at all, and almost lost Cloud.

Big Bee, still standing in place, suddenly looked up from the brightness of her phone's screen, looking like she'd just remembered something, and ran after Little Bee.

"Oh, oh, but we _do_ sell more than drinks, we sell peanuts too!"


End file.
